If you think about the amount of Knock Off nowadays, no item on Aegislash is a pretty decent option. People will usually suspect the Weakness Policy if they don't see the Leftovers and might avoid throwing supereffective moves. On top of that, no item also makes Knock Off no concern at all, unless it's from a Crawdaunt. (Life Orb Bisharp still has to 2HKO with Knock Off on a 252 HP Aegislash)

33 Answers

14 votes

Sweeper Set

This guy is literally DESIGNED to use swords dance, if you don't have the move in your moveset, then what's the point in using him? By the way if this guy doesn't get into OU I will figuratively sh*t myself.

The strategy for this beastly sword is to use his shield form (helped with defencive EVs) to set up with Swords Dance, all the while annoying physical attackers with King's Shield, switch to blade form (helped with attack EVs) and then start sweeping with priority Shadow Sneak.
If you're up against a Normal or Dark type, or ANY Pokemon for that matter that resists your Shadow Sneak, use King's Shield to switch back to shield form, and then slaughter the enemy with Sacred Sword the following turn.
This guy may also shine in trick room, but I haven't tried it yet.

Defensive set

I'm telling you, this thing will be the troll of the Generation. With off the charts base stats and a diverse move pool for both of its forms, it'll dominate for sure.

King's Shield scares off physical attacks as many of their moves make contact, thus lowering their attack. It allows Aegislash to recover health with Leftovers and Toxic stall the opponent to death. Pursuit punishes anything that tries to run away, as Aegislash's Blade form has 150 base Attack which will leave a dent in a lot of Pokemon. Toxic allows Aegislash to spread status as it scares the opponent out with their Attack drop, and goes well with King's Shield. Finally, Gyro Ball hits fast Pokemon that may try to set up their Speed boosts. It also hits Choice Scarfers and other fast Pokemon for lots of damage, particularly things like Weavile and Gengar who might have a go at Aegislash's weakness to Ghost and Dark due to the Steel type nerf this Gen. It also prevents Aegislash from becoming useless after a Taunt.

Hiya! I just had the most amazing luck, I was searching for a few honedge and on my second one I found a shiny!!!, my first ever wild one!!! So awesome, anyway I want to train it but it's a hardy nature, you think his would be the best move set for a hardy? What ev tweaks do you guys recommend? First post on the site love it! Keep up the great pokework

The natures don't really break the sets here (although they do help out with the desired role) so any of the movesets here will still work. Same with EVs, as these are more of the basic EV spreads since it would be a bit silly to tweak defensive and speed EVs without knowing tier placements. If you're looking for an ingame moveset, go with the more offensive ones though, as while walling does work ingame, it takes forever and is just more frustrating than anything else.

I'm also happy. On my 94th egg, I was able to obtain a shiny, 5IV Brave Honedge that is missing its speed stat. I haven't checked its speed stat, but hopefully its low. I got it yesterday and it is now a level 46 Aegislash. Man, I'm super excited. However I didn't know the correct EVs to put into him, and made them 252 attack and 128 in each defense. In attack stance he still has a 170 special attack, and I believe a 222 in attack at level 50. Should he be mixed? Or should i go all out physical?

If you wanting a strong gyro baller send out a shuckle with its dream world ability that swaps stat moves. (Aka: swords dance lowers your attack by 3) this is great for suprising stat lowers while shuckle is active. Let shuckle use shell smash to lower speed and increase defences. Follow with a baton pass to aegislash and there is a gyro ball slugger. (I think shuckle can learn baton pass, if not get somebody to use psych up to copy shuckles stats then use baton pass. But then this would be a double battle. ALSO: I can give out shuckles if you need it.

While this set is walled by a few Pokemon, steel types in general, it does have strong power and Duo STABs. Iron Head just got popular with the new fairy typing, and with STAB and chance to flinch you'll be doin just fine. Shadow Claw is next STAB with good critical hit chance. However if you go Sacred Sword you get walled by less pokes, though you lose out on STAB. Jellicent is still an issue however. Sacred Sword is probably the preferred option.

Doublade

Doublade is the Evolution of Honedge that deserves just as much recognition as it's bigger brother Aegislash, who quickly rose to fame among the Competitive Community by obviously superior Stats, Movepool, and Typing. But many forget that Doublade is his little brother; a Knight in training if you can, that deserves at least 50% of the credit and honor it's Evolution does- the [Twin] Sword Pokemon is the bridge between Aegislash and Sacred Sword after all. However, despite this, it is nonetheless overshadowed by it's Evolution, naturally. Why would anyone use this guy over a bigger, better version? This is why!

The arguably better DoubleDance'er of the Honedge Evolutions, Doublade's own "Pre-Evolution" Status gives it a 50% Boost to both it's Defense and Special Defense, bringing it to a superior Base Defense at 225 and a decent Base 75 Special Defense, as opposed to Aegislash's Blade Form's 50/50 Defensive Stats. Without having to rely on King's Shield to Switch between Offense and Defense, "Rebellion" attempts to rebel against it's bigger brother, showing that it is the better of the two with immediate Offense.

An attacker when need it, a defender when you want itBrave
Stance Change
Kasib Berry- Usually Aegislash would be KO'ed or massively damage by Ghost moves, but not with a Kasib40 HP/ 252 Attack/ 119 Defense/ 99 Sp.DefSword Dance- It raises its Attack by twoIron Head- It does 80 damage, and has a 30% chance of flinchShadow Claw- Does 70 damage, and a higher critical hit ratio (1⁄8) King's Shield-Protects Aegislash from attacks & if hit, it lower the attacking Pokémon's Attack.

i would recomend you to do some calculations about overall damage (check smogon for that), aegislash gets better bulk when growing its HP when in shield mode and growing all 3 defensive stats simultaneously on blade mode.... also... since its nature doesnt affect nor defense nor sp def, it wont be getting anything extra for having a odd number on those stats.... and i believe that at least for lvl 50, it doesnt grow attack anymore with brave nature after 248 or 246 EVs (dont remember the actual number)

How has this moveset not been voted at all?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! You CAN NOT have an Aegislash without swords dance or king's shield- especially king's shield because you need it to transform into shield forme and not get KO'd by weak moves. The only strategy for an Aegislash is to swords dance in shield forme, KO your opponent in one hit and then transform back into shield forme with king's shield. You want shadow claw and iron head for stab(1.5x power if moves are same type as pokemon). I don't know why loads of people say shadow sneak because it is so weak and the last thing an Aegislash wants is to attack first and be left vulnerable to DEATH in blade forme. You also don't want special moves like shadow ball. Why? Think about swords dance and what stat it raises... Yeah. I may sound like a droning weirdo and I probably am (at least I admit it), but I know what I'm talking about. My brother has an Aegislash with this exact moveset and it is the only pokemon left at the end of every battle except maybe his Yvetal. The only way I can think of to beat it is my Mega Mewtwo or and Yvetal that knows taunt. That is this moveset's one weakness- taunt. But there is a simple solution- switch out. So all in all this moveset is unbeatable. I could beat an Arceus more easily than this! I would vote for your answer but I can't get it working. The only person my brother can't beat with his Aegislash is a hacker with a Terrakion that is faster than a full speed EV'd Crobat, which is technically impossible. Trust me, this moveset with this pokemon is UNBEATABLE. You do not want to feel the suffering I felt against this dark beast. YOU DON'T. This comment (essay) is so long that nobody will pay attention or read it, but I don't care because I am giving hope to this person who gave a great answer that people don't like. I don't care that nobody will read this, but if someone does, I hope they learn something about this DEMON of a pokemon. You are a great guy.

This moveset is probably the best up here but I'd go for the weakness policy over the berry as it makes up for the fact that if they have an advantage on you then it would be hard to get in a swords dance so this raises the attack in hope of being able to KO the opponent. Also I find that defensive EVs work better and wouldn't adamant be better than brave anyway?

This is the way to run a competitive Aegislash. Swords Dance, Swords Dance, use that Weakness Policy, use King's Shield when you feel like you need to, and then you can sweep. And just when a physical wall comes in/you're burned, surprise, here's a Shadow Ball.

Special Offensive Set that is an obvious gimmick and really really sucks

I made this set for no particular reason, and I've been using it occasionally. It's an okay set in all seriousness, since it has a better chance against Pokemon which try beat Aegislash with Will-o-wisp and such (Hello Rotom-W).
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Trait: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- HP Fighting
- Substitute

With base 150 special attack you'd wonder why people wouldn't use a special set. Then you look at Aegislash's access to King's Shield and Swords Dance, and it's barren special movepool. Yup that's why,
Anyway. Trying to make do with Aegislash's dodgy special movepool sucks, but Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon are decent STABs with good enough coverage. HP Fighting rounds off the set, giving Aegislash something else to use. Hidden Power Fighting has the potential to KO Pyroar after Stealth Rock damage which is always nice. Also Flash Cannon can 2HKO even fully special defense invested Florges (From what I've seen, that's kinda uncommon) though wish suxaphones. This guy is kinda hit and run once sub gets broken =/ so his not that great.
Itemwise, Leftovers to give more substitutes of course :>. Evs = much special attack, and rest is slapped onto hp. Idgaf where the other 4 goes.
Anyway. The reason for running this set, is obviously the suprise factor on teams who bring defensive walls, will-o-wisp users, switch in Pyroar etc. who then find to their horror a specially offensive Aegislash.

First Sub up to prevent status problem like burn then King's Shield to get leftovers hp back.
Then sweep with special set cuz things like burn, intimidate, and the opposing aegislash's king shield may wreck you up if you want a physical set, or priority STAB is good too.

i dont like using a speedy aegislash since it will attack before some pokemons and be attaked after that by said pokemons while in blade mode.... even more if you are reducing your defense... having a substitute might work on it if you are doing that but you could minimize damage alltogether been hit while in shield mode and attacking afterwards.... also you are not usign automatize so you wont be sweeping that much since aegislash speed is not THAT great (most sweepers would have at least 1.5 times the speed of aegislash), u will be often attacked both before and after attacking... i dont really recomend it =/.... i do like the special attaks tho for the reasons u mentioned among others

The spread is a little shifty, but it works.Iron Head for dem GeoXers, and Kyurem-WShadow Claw for dem Lugias, Mewtows and Deo N/A/S.King's Shield because Weakness Policy.Sacred Sword for dem Dialgas, MLucs,EKiller Arceus (dat immunity tho), Mega Moms and Darkrais (lol dont send him against Darkrai).

A sweeper. Use King Shield on the first turn to scout the opponent. Then use Autotomize to boost your speed. If everything goes right, your Weakness Policy should activate and you will have +2 Speed and +2 Attack. You can now proceed to sweep with Iron Head and Shadow Claw/Shadow Sneak.

Moves: King's shield for cut opponen'ts attack and make them cry
Swords dance because obviously
shadow sneak because, with weakness policy and shadow sneak it can still ohko, it gains stab as well and it really works i've tried.
sacred sword for if you are fighting a normal or dark type.

always remember to only let your opponent hit you after it's attack is cuted due to kings shield, and always uses swords dance until you are at least on 3x, because if your opponent hit you and you waste a turn with swords dance, your attack will be 4x and so you can sweep with priority. the only damaging move that moves faster than shadow sneak is extreme speed which don't affect it, and pursuit only have priority if aegislash is witching, while you can't switch and use shadow sneak at the same turn. a strategy could use sacred swords and, if the opponent got something like 10% health, use priority shadow sneak for finish him. note this strategy doesn't work on normal types since ghost don't affect it and shadow sneak is a ghost type move. last thing, shadow tag doesn't affect aegislash due to it's ghost type, so you still can switch, but avoid switching for do not lose all your bossts.
enloy battling :)

Mixed Sweeper

Weird how no sets listed here are Mixed since Aegislash has good Attack & Special Attack stats. The plan is to switch Aegislash into something it counters and while the opponents switches out you pull off an Automize and when the other Pokemon comes in, you may be able to pull off yet another Automize since Aegislash in it's Shield form is pretty hard to OHKO (even with Rash). You may even get lucky to get the Weakness Policy to activate which puts you into +2 Attack and +2 Special Attack (which puts your Attack stat at 716 and your Special Attack stat at 876). +2 Speed will put your Speed stat at 396 and +4 Speed will put you at a Speed stat of 594. Shadow Sneak is priority and STAB (priority never hurts) or you can go for a STAB Shadow Ball instead. Sacred Sword helps with coverage and Hidden Power [Ice] is for Gliscor and Landorus-T or you can go with Flash Cannon for STAB.

Tips: Having Stealth Rocks up will be very helpful to Aegislash since it'll be able to get past Pokemon with Sturdy or are holding a Focus Sash. This set is good for late game sweeping.

The idea here is that the Aegislash will use King's Shield and go to Shield mode. Then it will use Toxic. (Unless facing Steel or Poison.) Since it has not good speed it will use Toxic after the opponent attacks and Aegislash in Shield mode is hard to kill, even with a Ghost type. Shadow Ball is STAB and Iron Head is STAB and takes out Fairies.

since you are doing a mixed attacker.... why do you choose a nature that reduces one of your attacks? wouldnt make more sense to have a nature that reduces a stat you wont be using much? (i would recommend speed, but a defense might work too if you wanna go with a speedy aegislash..... i still dont like speedy aegislash tho)

For those who remember Brave Fencer Musashi, I present you with Lumina

Say whatever you wanna but I trully believe that special aegislash does quiet good, it might lack sword dance, and the secondary effect of the attacks might not activate that often, but it has 3 advantages over his physical brother:
1) people are expecting physical Aegislash
2) since you cant set up, also means you wont take a turn to setup (wich most people will expect you to), you can choose to attack right away or use toxic on difficult opponents
3) since aegislash will be attacking every other turn (using king's shield to avoid been attacked while in blade form), he can stall for pasive damage generated by toxic wich will be using the sword's dance slot

would be awesome if this little assassin could learn nasty plot (i would probably just drol for a whole day just staring at it) but if you are lucky, the sp.def drop of the 2 attacks might trigger making you hit a bit harder and passive damage is quiet useful with this poke. You could run Hidden Power instead of Toxic or any of the other attacks for coverage... but I like toxic =P. you could also run weakness policy and enjoy the +2 you missed from a sword dance if you dont mind not having recovery (or if you have other staller using it when item clause is active)

On the other hand, the secondary abilities of all the attacks do actually serve a purpose while iron head's flinch wont even matter since you will be attacking last (ideally), shadow sneak might get you a kill but will leave you wide open for any incomming attack since it has priority, gyro ball will hit hard sweepers, but the damage is not that good against other slow pokes,

With 150 in both defences in shield forme, this guy makes an amazing staller. I invested in Sp.Def because King's Shield and Iron Defence walls physical attackers.
King's Shield is to prevent damage and harm physical attackers, as said above, while Toxic slowly drains your opponents health. Iron Defence + King's Shield combo makes physical attackers virtually useless on him. Shadow Ball/Flash Cannon to KO an opponent that may be a threat, usually ghosts so I advise Shadow Ball. If you see a fire, ground or dark type, flee.

First off, in order to use this correctly, you need to know what to do and when you do it, and be able to strategist with this moveset in battle.

The goal is to incapacitate your enemies by using toxic and possibly attract (which if you can use attract, then use it first, and not to mention attract can seriously complicate things for your opponent), and then spamming king's shield, and tanking attacks in shield form and healing back up with leftovers and spamming King's Shield when needed.

It is actually GOOD if Aegislash has really low speed!!! If Aegislash goes last in a turn, then he can stance change, get out a sacred sword, and then use King's Shield next turn to stance change before the opponent can attack, effectively getting rid of any opportunity to hit Aegislash while in blade form. Also, Aegislash's shield form is so bulky that it shouldn't be a problem tanking attacks due to being slower than the opponent.

I recommend trying this one out, because it can seriously SERIOUSLY do some damage to your opponents team! And even against Pokemon that have supereffective moves against it, it is still somewhat capable of doing a number on the opponent (although in this case I'd recommend having the evs into all defense and sp. defense).